Contemplating Evil
by Gayle Cato
Summary: Alex doesn't believe in evil. Mad surely, deranged of course, and everyone has a bit of crazy, but there is no such thing as evil.


**Disclaimer:**I don't own any of the characters below, etc.

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><p>It wouldn't be difficult too assume that Alex, having seen first hand so many atrocities would know just what evil is. His class mates certainly think they do.<p>

"_He kills for money?"_

"_What kind of person would do such a thing?"_

"_That man is evil"_

"_He deserves to die"_

The article in the newspaper makes things seem pretty clear…

"_Suspected to have personally killed over 480 men and women"_

"_Killed his father at 15 and ran away from home…a life of crime ever since"_

"_He was an indiscriminate murder…any one for the right price"_

The terrorist Gregorovich was captured four days ago and every one is talking about what an evil sort of man he is, but Alex was closer than "everyone" else.

He remembers what it was like to see his godfather's blood staining the floor, he remembers how it was to watch the death of a man who had caused him so much pain, and standing in the man's blood Alex remembers the horror of vindictive satisfaction, hoping his godfather was truly suffering in his final moments.

Alex is only 14, he hasn't shot anyone, but guns aren't the only way to kill someone. You can shoot a nameless face from a rooftop 400 ft away, or you can watch a man who thought that he knew you as he falls from the sky. You can know when he has hit the pavement over 1000 ft below, that you didn't even consider you might save him. Nile had asked Alex for forgiveness*, Yassen had never spoken to his target, both of them are dead, both of them were strangers at best. Neither Yassen nor Alex can bring themselves to care, even if they wanted too, but they don't.

Experts appear on television, hoping to analyze what would drive some one to crime, 480 kills, one after one after one.

"_We need to know why"_

Alex doesn't need professionals to tell him that answer. He can feel it now, the school adviser wants to talk about his future, and the relentless woman keeps telling him that he needs to consider where he's going. Alex has a job, and now that he's here he can't seem to see himself anywhere else. He knows the answer well enough.

"_Hello I just moved in next door, I get paid to kill people, I've recently retired"_

That clearly isn't going to go over well with the neighbors. One never chooses to be the villain, that part comes later; it's a fine line, you'll never notice you've crossed to the other side. Even if you could it's no good turning around. Even if you wanted to go back, you wouldn't know the way.

You don't want to go back? Of course you don't.

Alex wonders if maybe he's crossed that line. Sometimes he wonders what would happen if he tried to forget everything he's seen, but he won't try, he's afraid he won't be able too forget. Alex thinks he would rather live wondering, hoping that maybe he could, if he wanted to, which he doesn't.

But sometimes he still wonders.

The papers, say the man is completely inhuman, a monster even, they're glad that this man is being sent to America. They have capital punishment over there. The people are relived that he is going to die.

_"He was evil"_

Alex knows better. Yassen wasn't the kind too "kill any one for the right price." Is not Alex himself a testament to that falsity? And Yassen was clearly human enough, fearing death as he lay bleeding in the boy's arms.

What would the papers say if they could see Alex now?

_"Set fire to the Royal and General Bank"_

_"Killed Chief Executive, Alan Blunt"_

How many people will die before they can put the fires out? All of this, to cover up the escape of an international terrorist, whose life consists of handing out death for the highest bidder.

Alex doesn't feel evil. Evil is mindless, it is thoughtless, without reason, and everyone has a reason.

Alex knows what must be done. He has begun to understand the trap he's in, the kind he has always been in. MI6, its as though the government is some sort of ferocious reptile,** it has his life caught in its teeth, and he is going to have to cut of its head, if he wants to make it let go.

If you had asked Alex a year ago he might have told you this…

"_Yassen Gregorovich killed my Uncle; I am going to kill him"_

Alex would have told you that Yassen Gregorovich was evil, but now he's had a closer look, and he isn't so sure any more.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>I am not quite sure how this came about, this isn't what I was going to write. It didn't turn out as I had intended, but I think I like it just the same. Leave a review and tell me what you think. =D

Also I figure this can take place any time after Snakehead and before Scorpia Rising, take you pick.

* he really did, I checked. It's on pg.115 in my copy.

****** I think I'm referring to a Crocodile, or is that an Alligator? I can never remember the difference.


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